Panel



PANEL.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 21, I919.

Patented Deb. 20, 1921.

4 SHEETSSHEET l- 71205:; JPs-Z'Erjmv G. H. GNEISS AND C. J. PETERSON.

PANEL.

APPLICATION FILED FEB-27,1919.

1,400,950, Patented Dec. 20, 1921.

4 SHEETSSHEET 2.

G. H. GNEISS AND C. J. PETERSON.

PANEL.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 27, 1919.

' Patented Dec. 20, 1921.

4 SHEETSSHEET 3.

G. H. GNEISS AND 0.]. PETERSON.

PANEL.

APPLICATION FILED FEB-27,1919.

l ,4100 ,950. Patented Dec. 1921.

4 SHEETS- T 4.

@1155 Lei/55 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PANEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 20, 1921.

Application filed February 27, 1919. Serial No. 279,571.

To all'wizom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GUss H. Gmuss and CHARLES J. PETERSON, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago. in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Panels, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to panel boards for electric distribution more particularly for lighting circuits and small power circuits although the principle is applicable to heavier power circuits if desired. Our apparatus is of the general type in which bus bars are arranged parallel to the edge of the panel and terminals for the distributing or consumption circuits are arranged along the edge of the panel and provision is made for connecting the terminals to the bars. One of the principal objects of our invention is to so arrange the parts as to reduce the dimensions of the panel required for any given number of circuits. In modern installations space is a matter of great consideration as is also the amount of material required for the makeup of the apparatus and the boxes or closets inclosing it. As a result of our invention the size of the panel required for any given number of distributing circuits is greatly reduced.

Briefly, this is obtained by arranging the terminals for the distributing circuits in a row along the edge of the board" and approximately parallel with the ,'bus bars. Screw sockets are mounted adjacent to the bus bars and to the terminals. The sockets for any given pair of distributing conductors are arranged in line with each other, crosswise of the bus bars. Hence the terminals for the two sides of a given distributing circuit are arranged side by side along the same edge of the board and they are adapted to be electrically connected to sockets which are in line with each other transversely. Thus the space required on the ing application filed on the 17th day of J anuary, 1920, Serial No. 352,173, in which we have laid specific claims to the dead shell construction.

Another object of the invention is to render the board rea dily adaptable to either two wire or three wire systems.

WVe obtain our objects by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Figure l is a face view of the apparatus illustrating the manner of connection to the distributing circuits.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the bus bars, connectorbars and sockets, showing their relative positions.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line l4, Fig. 1, showing the manner of electrically connecting two sections.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 5-5, Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view takenupon a plane transverse to the plane of the panel and showing the manner of connecting the bus bar lugs to the bus bars.

Fig. 7 is a top plan view showing the modified arrangement of the bus bars, sockets and connector strips or laterals.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the modified form'shown in Fig. 7.

Like numerals denote like parts throughout the several views.

Referring first to the forms shown in Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, each section of the board consists of a panel 1 of insulating material in which are embedded the bus bars 2, the connector strips or laterals 3, 4 and the metallic screw sockets 5. The material of which the panel is made is preferably of such nature as to be plastic while the structure is being formed, after which the material sets and holds the parts securely in place, at the same time serving to protect them. The bus bars run longitudinally and are connected at the ends to a source of supply. According to the preferred method the lugs 6 which receive the ends of the external supply conductors (not shown) are electrically connected to posts 8 of conductive material by means of screws 9. The posts, which are shown in detail in Fig. 6, have feet 10 of larger diameter which form seats for bushings 12 of insulating material which lurroundl the posts. The bushings are externally threaded to screw into the sockets at the end of the panel, as best shown in Fig. 1. As a result of this construction the lug is put in electric connection with the bus bar by simply screwing the plug 12 into the socket until the foot of the post makes close contact with the bus bar beneath. To facilitate thescrewing of the plug into the socket it is desirable to form a polygonal head 15 at the upper end of the plug as shown in Figs. 1, 4, 5 and 6.

The conductive shells which form the screw sockets 5 are arranged in rows above the respective bus bars and are heldspaced therefrom by the material of which the board is composed. Attached to the sockets are connector strips or laterals 3, 4 which lead toward the nearest edge of the board and at their ends have internally threaded apertures 18 for taking binding screws 20 by which said strips or laterals may be connected to the conductors 23, 24 of the distributing circuits. The strips leading from the inner bus bars pass under the outer bus bars at a sufiicient distance to avoid contact with them as best shown in Figs. 2 and 5.

While not essential, it is desirable that the lateral edges of the board be beveled as shown in Figs. 1 and 5, and that the screws 20 and outer ends of the strips 3, 4, be located in pockets 25 formed in said beveled sides and having fiat bottoms on wh1ch the strip ends may rest. This not only imparts a finished appearance to the apparatus but serves to protect the terminal parts and also to prevent the conductors from becoming accidentally disconnected.

The screw plugs 26 which serve to electrically connect the sockets with the bus bars beneath are of ordinary commercial type usually containing a fuse (which is not apparent in the drawings). As these devices are well known, it is sufficient for the present purpose to say that they have center contacts 27 adapted to engage the bus bars beneath, and outer shells 28 of conductive material adapted to screw into the sockets 5 in the board. The center contacts and shells are electrically connected within the body of the plug and thus when the center contacts engage the bus bars the respective sockets will be put in electric connection with them.

In practice the boards are furnished in units of standard length and the ends are squared. Consequently two units or sections may be brought together end to end to increase the capacity of the apparatus as a whole. This may be accomplished as best shown in Figs. 1 and 4. After the two units are brought together end to end, insulating plugs 12 are screwed into the proximate end sockets and when these are in place connecting straps 32 of conductive material are fastened to the center posts by means of screws 9. This connects the bus bars of one unit with the bus bars in line therewith in the next unit.

Ordinarily a single section has six sockets in a longitudinal row. This is sufficient for six distributing circuits on each side of the panel'and is of convenient size, although of course the units may be made of different lengths. But if less than an entire section is wanted the superfluous portion may be removed by merely sawing the panel across at the proper point. This mav be accomplished by the electrician on th-.: j-b by 1means of a hack-saw or other suitable too In operation, let it be assumed that the installation calls for a two wire system. In such case the bus bars and distributing circuits will be connected as shown in Fig. 1, the pair of bus bars at one side of the board being in one supply circuit and those on the other side being in the other. If, now, it is desired to energize any given distributing circuit the operator simply inserts a pair of screw plugs into the sockets attached to the inner ends of the connector strips attached to the conductors of the distributing circuit in question.

If it is desired to adapt the board to a three wire system, the two inner bus bars are electrically connected by employing insulating plugs 12 and connecting straps like the ones 32 previously described; The two center bars may then be regarded as the neutral of a three wire system.

WVe wish particularly to call attention to the fact that in the form illustrated, the bus bars are feeder buses and the pair nearest to a given edge are of opposite polarity (or at least of different potential.) This with the other features immediately to be described peculiarly fits the apparatus for ordinary distributing in distinction to a metering system. In our construction, as stated, two feeder bus bars of opposite polarity are arranged parallel to the edge of the board and over each of them is placed a socket into which an ordinary commercial fuse plug or connector plug may be inserted so as to electrically connect the plug to the bar beneath. Each plug is connected to one of a pair of terminals alined practically parallel to the edge of the board. But the sockets instead of being alined parallel to the edge of the board are alined transversely thereto, hence taking up much less room lengthwise of the board, and as they are located over instead of at the side of the bus bars they take up much less room crosswise of the board. This results in an important reduction of dimensions.

To state the matter differently, it will be noted that the two terminals 3, 4, for a given distributing circuit are arranged side by side along the edge of the board. Their distance apart is little, if any, greater than the diameter of a single screw socket: and the two screw sockets, being in line with each other (crosswise of the board) take up only so much room (lengthwise of the board) as is necessary to properly space the screw plugs, the heads of which are usually somewhat larger than their threaded or body portion. As this works out in practice, in our board, even when four bus bars are employed, the screw sockets can be spaced just as closely together as is practical for the accommodation of the plug heads. In our board, the terminal which leads farthest inward of any given pair passes beneath the outer bus bar,--that is, the one lying nearest the edge of the board. This may tend to require a slightly thicker piece of apparatus than would be the case if such terminal passed to the side of the outer socket, but, generally speaking, it is the superficial area of the apparatus which it is desirable to reduce, and a slight increase in thickness is of practically no importance. It will also be noted that in the preferred construction, as shown, a portion of the board itself intervenes'between the outer bus bar and the point where the longer terminal crosses it. In any event, the longer terminal is stationary and fixed and consequently may be and is definitely spaced from the outer bus bar so there can be no danger of a short circuit; but it adds special safety to the apparatus to employ the molded construction in which the parts are cast in place, so to speak, and insulating substance intervenes between the outer bus bar and the terminal which passes it.

The modified form shown in Figs. 7 and 8 is analogous to the one shown in the first six figures of the drawings, but the bus bars 40 are arranged on edge and electrically connected to the sockets 5. The connector strips or laterals 43 and 44 are analogous to the connector strips 3 and 4 previously described in that they extend to the lateral edges of the board and are provided with screw holes 18 for receiving the binding screws 20. But instead of being electrically connected to the sockets 5 they are spaced therefrom and their inner ends are in position to be engaged by the center contacts 27 of the fuse plugs when the latter are screwed into the sockets. In brief, in the modified form the sockets are permanently connected to the bus bars and the center contacts engage the connector strips or laterals,

whereas, in the first described form the sockets are permanently connected to the connector strips or laterals and the center contacts of the plugs engage the bus ba-rs. But it is evident that in either case electric connection is established by screwing the plug into the socket.

It will be observed that in the type of construction shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the screw sockets or shells will not be alive until after connection is made by means of the plug, whereas, in the type shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the shells are alive so long as the bus bars are alive, although the terminals will not be rendered alive until the plugs have been inserted. These two types may be termed the dead socket and the live socket constructions respectively.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A panel board for electric distribution including bus bars, sockets associated with said bus bars, and distributing terminals leading from the sockets, said sockets being arranged in tandem crosswise of the board and the terminals being arranged in pairs lengthwise on a given side of the board within a space defined by planes tangentlal to a socket at opposite points in the latter and at right angles to the bus bars.

In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names.

GUSS H. GNEISS. CHARLES J. PETERSON. 

